Radio Kansas began in 1979 with one FM station and a vision for the future.

Hutchinson Community College had begun a 50-watt student FM station in 1972. The station could not be received much beyond the campus. In 1978 the college decided to upgrade the station to a full power, professional public radio station. On July 1, 1979 KHCC-FM, 90.1 MHz, Hutchinson-Wichita signed on as a 100,000 watt professional public radio station. The station employed a staff of five from the main administrative building at Hutchinson Community College, Lockman Hall. The mission was to bring the finest in public radio to the central part of Kansas. From the beginning, quality was the single most important goal of Radio Kansas. That vision resulted in rapid growth for the station in programming quality and public financial support. It also resulted in a very good public image from the very early days, that continues to grow today.

That growth saw Radio Kansas move to a new facility in Davis Hall, located about two miles from the main HCC campus in Hutchinson. The move occurred in the spring of 1984. The new location offered state of the art studios and, for the first time, adequate office space for a staff that had grown to 17.

As KHCC grew, citizens from other parts of Kansas began to inquire about how they could get public radio in their areas of the state. By working with groups of supporters in other communities, KHCD-FM, 89.5 MHz, Salina-Manhattan was created and began broadcasting on January 28, 1988. With the addition of KHCD, Radio Kansas also began to serve the north-central part of the state extending to the Nebraska border.

Finally on August 3, 1992 KHCT-FM, serving the Great Bend-Hays area was added to the Radio Kansas stations. At this time the name Radio Kansas was adopted. We had been struggling with trying to say KHCC/KHCD dozens of times a day. With three stations, we knew we needed something simpler.

Radio Kansas continues to strive for the highest in quality in everything it does. The station continues to be recognized as one of the premiere public radio operations in the country.